


Amnesiac Memories

by BlackIce_K1lls



Series: The Storykeeper [2]
Category: Cookie Run (Video Game)
Genre: Amnesia, Choco Siblings headcannon, Comedy, Drama, Friendship, Gen, Korean and English names are used, Multiple Endings, Swearing, a LOT of references, like a lot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-31
Updated: 2019-08-03
Packaged: 2020-07-27 20:29:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 19,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20052079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackIce_K1lls/pseuds/BlackIce_K1lls
Summary: In which a duo became a trio due to unforseen circumstances.And an evil sword. There's also an evil sword.





	1. Chapter 1

Dark Choco leaned his head against the pommel of the sword, dangling his feet over the edge of the cliff. The hot puffs of steam rose from the mouths of the volcanoes and made him sweat. He sighed and got up.

A scampering of footsteps sounded over the cacao igneous and mess of something tumbled into rocks behind Dark. He perked up and slowly turned around. Two cookies, one purple and one white, groaned in pain as they got up. It seems as if they were annoyed with each other.

“Dang it Yams, I told you to slow down!” the white one said to the purple one who was presumably Yam.

Yam was equally as annoyed, if not more. “Well, I’m SORRY Milk. Considering the fact that we just found the GUY we were LOOKING for, excuse me for getting a little EXCITED.”

The one who was allegedly Milk got back onto his feet and grabbed his shield. “I promised myself that I would not you hurt him and I stand by it!”

Dark tried to cut in. “Um, excuse me-“

Yam grabbed his mace and heaved it over his shoulder, standing even more annoyed. “I don’t like you, but I TRUST you. But if you get in MY WAY, then I guess we’ll have to settle this.”

“Hmph! The old fashioned way then!”

“Excuse me, could you please-“ Dark was cut off once again to the yells of Milk and Yam. Panicking, he pulled a Benvolio on them and attempted to separate the two weapons with his sword. Fortunately, Milk and Yam stopped fighting.

Unfortunately, Dark hit the weapons so hard that the sword’s blade broke into shards and he rolled forward onto his feet. He dropped onto his hands and knees, throwing up strawberry jam and falling onto his side.

Milk and Yam were speechless, standing agape. The looked at each other and back at Dark. After a few solid seconds of looking back and forth, Milk decide to (albeit hesitantly) walk up to the now unconscious cookie.

“Mr. Dark?” Milk bent down and poked at him with his mace. “Kenchanayo…? I really hope you’re okay.”

Yam stepped over the broken sword and a pang of dizziness hit him. He quickly staggered over to Milk and the feeling left. He frowned. “He DOES NOT look anything like the last time I saw him.”

Milk sighed and grabbed Dark by the shoulders, lifting Dark as Milk stood up. He was limp now, most likely from the fact that he threw up the equivalent of 15 sugar packets.

“Uh, ye. Last time I saw him, he had long flowing hair and didn’t look like someone doused him in black paint.” A beat of silence passed by before Yam broke it.

“Welp, let’s go HOME,” he announced, walking off before Milk grabbed his arm and pulled Yam back.

“Yam, we’re not leaving him. It took like a year to find him and he’s in bad shape.”

Yam groaned. “That’s your BORING mom lecturing voice. But what ARE we going to do with him anyhow?”

Milk thought for a moment, thinking out all the possibilities he could come up with. He tried to pry one thought away but it seem like the best option against the rest. They couldn’t take him to a doctor. The entire hospital had been going wild since the recent death of the head nurse. A quick heal from Milk would do the trick, but that meant risking Yam picking a fight shortly after Dark woke up. Besides, he like the first idea that came to mind.

Milk smiled and turned to Yam. “How about we take him to my house and heal him?”

Yam blew a long, drawn out sigh. “FINE.”

Milk, in all honesty, was taken aback by Yam’s less explosive response. Out of all the thing Yam would be peeved at, this wasn’t one of them. Milk shrugged it off. Throwing Dark over his shoulder, Milk tossed his mace and shield at Yam who was already picking up his mace. With their possessions and Dark in tow, the two set off back home.

-

You’re stupid for thinking about something like that.

Dark gasped as his eye snapped open and he bolted up, instantly feeling a pain in his back. He fell back onto the bed. Bed? On second thought, where is he? Last he thought, he was going out on a quest about something and a new year was being celebrated. (or was it a birthday? Maybe an escape?)

He attempted to twirl a strand of hair around his finger but was shocked again to find it was cut short. He looked down and also found that his clothes were different, harsh dark brown metal instead of pristine white fabric. What?

When the pain subsided and it didn’t hurt getting up, Dark made his way out of the room. The floor was soft and the halls were a blueish white. The harsh metal shoes he wore felt weird on the floor but then he caught a glimpse of a mirror as he trekked on.

Dark stopped midway and turned to the mirror. When waving his hand in front of his face didn’t make the mirrors image go away, he promptly shrieked. Said image he saw was the fact that his left eye had a vertical scar on it. And also that he looked nothing like the last time he looked in a mirror, he thinks at least. When was the last time he looked in one?

He was frozen while a pair of arms seized him by the upper limbs. He shook them off and stumbled back. One white cookie and one purple cookie stood in grace and shock at him. Dark looked side to side and then in front of him. He gulped while straightening up. The purple one whistled. “Hoh boy, we need an explanation don’t we?”

-

_The day isn’t looking so good for you isn’t it, oh valiant prince?_ A voice boomed behind him. He’s not sure when they appeared to him but as soon as he sat down, boom; there they were.

“Rurple Van and Kilt. I don’t really recall anycookie by those names but both of you seem like very nice cookies!”

Dark shifted in his seat as the two cookies before him introduced themselves as Purple Yam and Milk. The voice he heard mirrored Dark, with long flowy hair and armor so white and bright it could blind someone. He swore that something about them felt so familiar to them, yet so foreign.

Dark gulped through his smile. Yam drummed his fingers against the table and Milk whistled, both not making eye contact. It had seemed Yam had had enough of this quiet and then heaved a sigh, saying “Look, I know it’s KINDA a weird situation but, bottom-line, Milk and me fought, YOU intervened, broke your sword, THREW UP, and we brought you HERE.”

_My my my, what an unfortunate event. What did we do to even get in that situation? Did we cause it?_ Though as of spontaneously existing after like 5 seconds, the voice was being very unhelpful.

Milk looked relieved and sighed as well. “Ah, ye. We did and now that you don’t look like you’re gonna hurl every 15 seconds, could you tell us what you were doing at a cliff? If you don’t mind of course.”

Dark tilted his head. “Mwo? When was I at a cliff? Closest I’ve ever gotten to a cliff was the space between the oven and the floor, if I recall correctly.”

Milk sat with a small smile on his face and wide eyes. In his mind, he could only think up one word:

**AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH- **

Milk cleared his throat and smiled again. “Ahahaha! Mm, of course. I was just… uh-”

“JOKING!” Yam cut in. He stood up. “Haha, just joking. You- you wouldn’t be near a very dangerous cliff that could TOTALLY kill you. Aniya! No- Okay BYE!”

Purple Yam tensely grabbed Milk up by the shoulders, and pushed his back up the stairs with himself, running up. Once at the top, Milk swiftly turned around in a panic.

“What do we do? What do we do? What do we-“ Milk’s high pitched panicking was then shut up by Yam.

“I don’t KNOW!” Milk grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him back and forth.

“What do you mean you don’t know!?”

“Easy, EASY! Keep panicking like that and you’re gonna kill me someday.” Milk let go and Yam dusted off his arms. “Okay, I got a plan. Um…”

Yam and Milk were silent for about 15 seconds. Dark and the voice heard two very aggravated screams from the second floor.

The voice smirked. _Well look at that. Or hear that. It seems they’re having trouble with something. Could it be… le gasp… our fault? Haha, I’m joking._

“Ha ha…”Dark nervously chuckled.

The voice opened one eye and frowned. _What is it? Are you worried about the situation you ended up in?_

“I guess you could say that. Everything about me feels different and my mind it’s not-“

“Hey DARKO!” Yam’s voice filled the room as he and Milk came down the stairs. “So Milk made a PLAN about you because it seems like you’re going through some stuff SO…”

“We were wondering if you could stay here until we’d- You! You had sorted yourself out before going off on your own.”

Milk shakily smiled. Dark squinted his eye and looked at the voice for a split-second before smiling (genuinely), standing up, and embracing the two cookies in a tight hug.

After letting go, Dark let out a hearty laugh and said, “Of course! It seems as if years have gone by and I do may need all the help I can get.” He bowed. “Gamsamhamida!”

The two cookies gulped as they both realized they were way in over their heads.

-

_ Seems as if you’re stuck. _

“Quiet… I’m trying to think.” Dark flopped his head forward to his pillow.

The voice floated over, looking like a mix between smug and curious. _About what? _

“Okay, you know something was off about those two right? Jam and Guilt?”

The voice swirled around him a bit before answering. _Hm, nae. Yes. People don’t typically act like anxious ball of dough, though your appearance isn’t helping._

Dark scoffed and lifted his head. “Yeah that, and I feel like I’ve met them before. I don’t remember too much but I do know I did something to them that caused them both to already know my name.”

_Yes, it is a bit odd that you never told them your name._ The voice kicked back and continued. _Though you did save Milk’s life and beat the heat out of Yam in the Arena Champion, so I guess it is appropriate for them to know. _

“Well of course and- Wait what?” Dark’s eye widened at the voice, who was already leaning his head over his arm and fluffing his long hair.

_Hm? Ah, I suppose I never did explain myself, did I?_ The voice smirked. _Well, I am, as far as I know, a chunk of your memories; you have the rest, which isn’t saying much. So I may know much more than you do about yourself._

Dark was silent and fell forward into the pillow again, groaning. “No.” His reply was muffled. “No, I don’t remember saving someone clad in white and beating someone dyed purple, not at all. Why don’t you tell me more then if you know so much?”

_ You’ll get sick if I do. Though, I have nothing else to give you otherwise. So, you could try to remember if you wish to know more._ The voice landed over the bed, though it didn’t even cushion.

“Ehh, is that the only thing you can do?”

_ There isn’t that much for me to do, anyhow. _

“Won’t that get boring?”

The voice shrugged. _If you consider I’ve only been here for half an hour, then no._

-

Milk screamed into a pillow. Yam paced around the rug in Milk’s room, getting so frustrated that he almost smashed his head against a poor innocent desk. Gasping for a breath of air, Milk dropped back into his bed.

Giving up, Yam threw his arms up, declaring, “FUCK IT! I’m going to my HOUSE, getting my SHIT, and moving in with YOU until we figure out the hell’s going on with Mr. Mostly Amnesiac here and FIX IT!”

Milk sighed, throwing his pillow to the side, sitting back up, and hopping off the bed. “You sure? You’d either have to share a bed with me or sleep on the couch. Dark Choco is using the only guest bedroom.”

Yam already had one foot out the door, starting to leave. “Doesn’t matter to me. I’m getting my stuff now.”

Then Milk Angel and Firestarter floated near Milk, signaling to him that they were hungry. Realizing that he didn’t know what to feed Firestarter and that he didn’t have anything for Milk Angel as of recent, Milk stuck his head out his room and yelled at Yam, who was already down the hall. “Hey! What do I feed Firestarter?”

“Sweet potatoes and nutmeg!”

“’K thanks!” Milk paused for a moment and spoke again. “Also, could we go to the market? I don’t think I have those things!”

“Okay whatever, sure!”

-

_ What is your purpose for not showing up? _

Dark had gone to bed and the voice confronted another voice, who stood and looked at the flowers. The moonlight had shown through the window, throwing the shadows of the flowers onto the floor and the new vibrato simply stayed quiet.

The voice sat by the bedside and gazed at the back of the new vibrato.

_Are you going to answer me? Or are you going to stay a coward and shut your mouth?_

This vibrato did not reply as he was too focused on the flowers.

_He can’t get everything from me. You’re part of him too._ The voice’s hair slung over their shoulder; they sighed as they looked at the vibrato who ignored them.

They must’ve passed the time for so long as the sun peaked from over the hills and trees and kingdom before it had finally spoke.

**I apologize for my silence. He not ready to face himself and fulfill his destiny… **

The voice scoffed, getting up and crossing their arms. _Destiny my leftover dough! Destiny is simply a construct some lady decided to make because she liked darkness so much to drag others into it and keep them there. _

**You don’t know that. **

_Then tell me, what were we anyway? He was you and you were me. Now he is he and not you or me. If he is not you, and he is not me, then he is not any of us and can be who he wants. _

**You will be what you become.**

_ WORMSHIT! That’s a fucking paradox you destiny believing shape of hopelessness! _

“Could you keep it down sir? I want to sleep more…” The room fell silent and the vibrato turned to the voice with the all the despair and darkness resting the vibrato’s dull eyes and burnt hair up to the shoulders.

** …I am sorry but he really is not ready. **

Then the voice flicked away as Dark Choco snuggled further into the blankets.

_Sounds to me like you aren’t ready._

-

Maybe in the heat of the moment, both Yam and Milk should have thought through going to the market. Why? Because, both parties got too paranoid about leaving Dark alone and decided to take him with them.

Dark stepped out of the house wearing a black jacket and jeans, and a big stupid grin on his face. “Hi!”

“Wh- WHY do you have a jacket! WHERE did you get a jacket? WHERE’S your armor? WHAT, do you wear it under your armor?” Yam asked in rapid fire as Milk was dumbfounded.

Dark’s face twisted in confusion. “That armor gets heavy sometimes, besides we’re going to the market. I would want to look at least casual. Why would I just go out in armor? That’s like… like… oh, something about weapons.”

The two blinked as Dark continued. “Weapons, weapons. Ava, avaca. Dora, dorado. Ah, I’ll think about it later. C’mon, kaja! And yes, I do wear this jacket under my armor.”

The two shocked cookies looked down at their own clothing and back up.

“Dude,” Yam said, “I need to get a shirt.”

-

The market was full of cookies. Good news is that there must be some place harboring those ingredients. Bad news is that they all got separated.

Milk didn’t bring his mace or shield; it would be rude to bring them besides them being so bulky. Plus seeing far today wasn’t really something he wanted to do. So he got swept away in the crowd.

Yam wasn’t so lucky either. While he was relatively strong (just not as much as Milk), a crowd of cookies was no match for him. In just a few short seconds, the mob had slammed him into a pole, a wall, and somecookie on fire.

That somecookie on fire was actually a spirit on fire, as in Fire Spirit. When Yam finally got a hold of himself, he was face to face with him. Yam mini-panicked in his head and put on an overenthusiastic smile.

“Hey… dude…”

Fire Spirit looked bewildered. “Uh, hey? What are you doing here?”

“Just uh…” Yam sweated and clapped. “Getting’ food for… Firestarter. Just normal stuff.”

“Uh huh. And where is Firestarter?” Yam whipped his head around and he screamed yet again inside as Firestarter must be with Milk right now.

“Ha…! That is a VERY good question…” Yam twiddled with his fingers. Fire Spirit eyed him up and down.

“Sure. So uh, Yam. How have you been? Y’know, with your adventure and all?”

Yam hesitated and slowly said, “Ah, well… I haven’t- just uh… had any time to… y’know…”

Suddenly, Yam pointed behind Fire Spirit and yelled, “HEY LOOK, SEA FAIRY WANTS TO GET BACK TOGETHER WITH YOU!”

Fire Spirit perked up. “She does?”

He turned around but she wasn’t there and when Fire Spirit spun back, it seemed as if Yam had disappeared.

Only he didn’t actually disappear. Yam just away as fast as he could and slammed right into Milk in the process.

Dark was actually holding a conversation with somecookie. Granted, Dark could only see 10% of them but he was nice nonetheless.

“Ah, no. I am simply out for some sake.”

“Hm, I do say, you look quite familiar. Have I met you-“ Dark gulped. “Have I… have I met you before?”

Ninja was quiet, then nodded. “I believe so, once or twice. Knight introduced you to me or the other way around. I cannot quite remember.”

“Right! Blight introduced us to each other. I cannot really remember the details either but seeing you again is really nice.”

Ninja cocked an eyebrow. “You mean Knight, correct? Where did you get Blight from?”

“Ah, well, I must’ve mis-said his name. I obviously meant to say Might. I can only remember so much.”

“Er, close enough. Why are you here any-“ There was a yell about something in Japanese. Ninja quickly bowed and sextuple jumped to the source.

Dark made a subtle waving gesture then dropped his smile.

For Milk, he was luckily swept into the area that he needed to be, the food section. Firestarter and Milk Angel floated around his head as he wandered the area, since the crowd had died down.

“Nutmeg… Cereal… Oh, where are they?” Milk worryingly puffed his cheeks and slammed into a basket. He didn’t really look where he was going as it he seemed to wander into the weaponry section.

“Oh! I am so sorry!” Milk began to grab the basket and its fallen items.

The cookie behind the stand, one dressed in red beads, simply scoffed. “It does not matter to me. Just do not damage the merchandise.”

The items Milk picked up were merely swords. Long and short, dull and sharp, all just swords. He grabbed them all and placed them back into the basket. Though, one of them gave him a burning sensation on his hand once he grabbed its hilt. He yelped and jerked his hand back.

“Ow!” Milk paused for a moment as Milk Angel coddled his face but was pushed away. He opted to grab the sword by the cross guard and put the rest the swords back. Standing triumphantly, he smiled.

Then Yam collided with Milk’s back, knocking over the basket again.

“Oi!” the cookie with the red beads yelled. “He just put those swords back! The hell is wrong with you?”

“Alright, alright, geez. I’ll put them back.”

Milk stood up, glancing down at Yam grasping at the swords and tossing them into the basket. “Careful about that one! It burns.”

“What? Ow! Shi bal…” The sword he picked up gave a spark, causing Yam to drop it. Yam took a quick look at his hand then shook it off. He grabbed the sword and threw it in the basket. “Whatever.”

Dark, on his end, was wandering the market, coming to the end of the block where a part of the building was knocked out, almost like a blacksmith’s workplace. He poked his head around the wall and found somecookie with long bright green hair.

The two walls that weren’t torn out were adorned with varieties of blades. Open cases of weapons, clean and sharp, were out on display, with handles knit and stitched on. Dark waltzed a bit more into the area, spotting a silver white sword with a four pronged red gem embedded in the chappe resting in a case. Staring at the sword gave way to a headache but he grit his teeth to endure the pain.

The voice leaned again the wall, cross-armed and smirking. _It’s yours… is it not?_

He pulled on his hair; his eye widened. A pounding sensation hit the left side of his skull.

_ He gave it to you. She likes it._ The cookie with the long hair turned and ran up to him. She said something but he couldn’t hear what she was saying.

Black spots enveloped his vision while the voice looked down on him and Dark passed out.

“We lost him! We lost him!” Yam smacked Milk in the face and grasped him by the shoulders.

“Get a GRIP on yourself! You’re OVERREACTING!” Milk made a squeaking noise and hyperventilated.

“Lost who?” Yam and Milk glanced upward to find a dark colored cookie in a suit with mint hair that seemed to stand up. Mint Choco Cookie.

Yam nervously scoffed. “Oh… Just a- just a friend. Y’know, since the rush kind separated us and… uh… aaaaAAAAAHHHHH-“

Milk cut Yam’s screaming off. “What he means is that we got separated and one of us is lost, we just can’t tell.”

“Oh, jinjjayo? I’m looking for someone too. With my sisters actually.” Mint sneered at himself. “But maybe, we won’t find him, at this rate.”

“Aniya!” Milk semi-shouted. “There’s always hope, even in the darkest of times. Who’re you looking for anyway?”

“My younger brother, Dark Choco Cookie.”

Milk and Yam inhaled sharply and straightened up.

“You’ve seen him?”

Milk gulped. “Oh, ama… pr-probably… let me just think…” He grabbed Yam and started walking away. “With Yam.” He started walking again. “Alone.” He spoke again. “Get back to you later.”

Once the two were out of range of Mint, they started running away, skidding to a halt at a blacksmith’s workplace, though Yam tripped and slammed into Milk again.

“A-anyeong…” Dark sheepishly waved at the two cookies. He sat on floor, wrapped in a blanket holding a white sword. “Kencha… kenchanayo?”

They nodded and got up. Yam stretched. “Yeah, we’re okay. You?”

Dark made a so-so hand gesture and replied, “Geujeogeuraeyo… Just a small headache…”

Avocado Cookie leaned against the pillar. “You three know each other?” Dark nodded.

“Nae, we’re…” He paused for a moment, as if trying to find the right word. “We’re… we’re friends!”

Milk sighed. “I really don’t want to ask questions so…” He lightly bowed. “Thanks!”

“Ah, nae. We really should get going.” Dark stood up slowly and handed the blanket back to Avocado. “Thanks Dorado.”

“Not my name, but no prob.”

As the three left, Milk looked over his shoulder and found somecookie, much clearer than all the blurry backgrounds. In white armor and long flowing hair, they trailed not too far behind.

-

By the time they made it inside Milk’s house, Yam had already flopped down on the couch. Milk realized that he didn’t get any food at the market like he was planning to anyways. Yam did not want to go out again so the two decided it was the best course of action for Milk to go out to the market again while Yam and Dark stayed here.

Yam groaned. He wanted to go back to sleep, despite it being barely two hours since he woke up. That burning sensation on his hand didn’t go away at all too. Though, now that he thinks of it, what is going on with his hand? Whipping out his hand in front of his face, there was something that wasn’t there before. There was a four pronged star in his palm, extending to the top of his middle finger down past his wrist. It was a dark red, glowing, and seemingly embedded into his skin.

Okay, put that on the list of creepiest things ever found. Dark had gone upstairs for whatever reason. Yam couldn’t really place this uneasy feeling his chest, almost like some thing is pressing down on it, and Dark had something to do with it and the star. Pushing himself off the couch, Yam made his way up the stairs to find Dark.

Dark, unfortunately when Yam found him, looked drained and was covering his mouth with a pinkish red liquid pouring out of his mouth. He used the wall as support while Yam yanked him by the jacket to the bathroom. Dark proceeded to spill his guts there, filling the room with a sweet strawberry scent. Though, strawberry jam being a parallel to blood, Yam couldn’t help but feel a little sick.

No. Swallow your disgust and pride and help this guy. Go get a glass of something or whatever’s in the fridge. Yam pushed himself off the edge of the bath tub and got to the kitchen, where he got a glass of flour water.

He went back up, pausing because maybe he heard something, then went back into the bathroom and gave Dark the glass. Dark downed the whole thing in one go, then continued spilling. A bit later, after he stopped, Dark managed to force out a thank you.

To which Yam replied with an “Aniya.”

_ I remember him. _

Yam hoisted Dark up by the waist, carrying him back to the guest bedroom.

_He is quite angry with you. _

Yam made a second trip back downstairs for a bucket after he got Dark into bed. Yam leaned against the bed with said and found bucket.

_ But now I think he’s forgotten what I’ve told you. _

Yam could hear a voice just like Dark’s but he ignored it and waited.

-

Milk is seeing things. He must be. All the stress of the past day and a quarter must be getting to him. Yeah. All he did after getting the food was see a rip in his clothes, specifically his hand. A gash was there in the cloth horizontal in his palm, revealing a four pronged, dark red star across it. It spoke to him in a way he couldn’t describe. An ethereal being perhaps?

The bags cutting into his arm and Milk Angel coddling him again snapped him out of that trance. Milk shook his head. It was nothing really. The walk back was tiresome, he had to say; the market was a half hour away from his house. The sun didn’t make it any better as the seasons were going from spring to summer. He hates heat. When all three came home, it was already late afternoon and Yam had crashed yet again on the couch. Milk did his best to stay quiet, setting the bags down as gently as possible.

He dusted himself off, yawning. The walk made him very tired. Milk was too drained for the day to notice someone talking and also crashed on the couch, over the back cushions. His hat fell and his eyes slowly drifted off to a world like no other. Or maybe not.

** Do you remember? They sure do.**

-

The muffled sound of somecookie telling Yam’s name to his sluggish waking up didn’t help. His head felt light, but not in a sickly way, more like a hazy way. That kind of way we’re you aren’t quite fully aware of, well, everything.

“Yam. Yam. YAM!” The cookie finally shouted, alerting Yam in which the cookie was promptly punched in the face by Yam. “Aigoo! Yam!”

The cookie fell back, sitting on the ground, revealing himself to be Milk. Yam got himself up and helped out Milk.

“Woah, I did not mean to do that.”

“Yeah, I can see that from the fact that you just decked me.”

The two looked down at their hands. No weapons or shield of any kind. Around them was a cacophony of discordant noises and screams, all begging. The area burned their eyes with contrasting darks and bright neons. The floor was an odd mix of blues and purple, akin to paint mixing when spilled.

Before them was a cacao bean wrapped in leaves, unraveling itself. It split open, letting the chocolate beans tumble to the ground. Milk and Yam felt a pressure and their knees buckled, hitting the floor as the beans swam to them. There in the bean was somecookie dressed in white with long hair- no, black with short hair- or maybe just very dark brown in heavy armor. Whoever he was, he was slowly turning towards the cookies.

Feeling the stare that hasn’t even hit them yet, Yam and Milk felt uneasy and grabbed onto each other, shaking. The cookie was dolled up in armor, a helmet masking his face, though the red glow in his left eye was unsettling. The armored cookie trekked his way through the beans, standing tall against Yam and Milk. Then he grabbed his helmet, yanking it off and letting a familiar face show.

Short black hair with two white stripes and dark red eyes showed themselves. The wind in this place blew. Those eyes were filled with hurt and he had the audacity to place a finger in front of his mouth.

Shhhh… 

The gem embedded in his left eye gleamed as a feeling of water rush over the cookies, though the water was actually lava. The smell burned their senses away and the heat blasted all the pain to turn them all into burnt treats to throw in the trash.

-

“The FUCK you doing!?”

Dark heard the yell of a very angry Yam and his spine snapped straight. “M-making food…?” He slowly spun around.

“Not YOU!” Yam flung his hand at Dark. “Get your feet outta my face!”

** Dark. **

“Sorry! Sorry!” A blur of white flew from the couch and Yam’s head peaked out from the couch, in Dark’s perspective. The plate in Dark’s hands shook vigorously. This was not how he wanted to start dinner. That and the fact he almost set the kitchen on fire.

**Dark. **

Yam got up from the couch, starting to argue with Milk. The argument flew over Dark’s head as it became white noise. That voice… that one is new.

**Dark.**

“Do you… do you smell that?” Milk stopped the argument.

“What? The smell of burnt hair or broken dreams?”

_Dark, for the tree’s sake, the kitchen’s on fire! _

All three heads turned towards the kitchen, to where the voice was right; the kitchen was on fire. Dark dropped the plate and his eye wandered to find something. Milk, on the other hand, dove under the dining table, flipping open a tile and grabbing a jug of emergency milk.

Yam, to his dismay, was frozen in place. Ironic, as the heat built up in his body started building up more causing the heat to build up more and now suddenly he’s back were he was before. Agony and flames and heat, it’s everywhere. He can’t- Then he realizes he’s in a cold bed.

“Yam!” Bolting upward, Yam’s fist swung at someone but collided with the wall instead.

“Yam, it’s me! It’s Milk!” And yes, it was Milk, who sitting at the edge of the bed. Yam slightly hyperventilated. Milk’s face twisted in concern while he lightly grasped Yam’s hands. “It’s just me.”

With that, they stared at each other, as Dark Choco flicked the lights off.

“It’s fine.”

-

“Choeun achim…”

“No…”

“Get up, or I’m dragging you downstairs.”

And Milk did. He dragged Yam all the way down the stairs, into a chair, leaving to grab a bowl and spoon and ignoring the odd dried milk on the floor. It didn’t occur to the two how fucked their sleeping patterns were. Terrible sleeping plus Milk plus Yam equals very annoyed cookies. This came to light when Dark greeted them both.

“Annyeong.”

Milk sat down at the table and groaned at Dark, frowning. “Dark, we’ve messed up our sleeping schedules so many times; I can’t even tell if it’s 3 am or breakfast.”

_ It’s noon._

“Who CARES? I’m eating this nutmeg straight from the bottle and you can’t stop me.” Yam shoved a spoonful of nutmeg into his mouth and slammed his face into the table.

Milk poured cereal into the bowl, then dumped the bowl’s contents right in his mouth. It sounded like metal on metal as he chewed. Milk Angel and Firestarter hovered around Dark as he stood there, puzzled. Was there something he did that warranted this feeling? A need to go out, adventuring in the world, like Avengering Cookie?

_Check your pockets, princey._

By then, Dark was standing before the table while Milk and Yam had cleaned up their short lived brunch. Once Dark realized this, he dove hands into his jacket pockets, finding a piece of paper. The paper was old, yellowed and crinkled with creases. There was a dark gray sword drawn on it, with a dark red four pronged star in the chappe and Oreo like shapes forming the that and the cross guard.

Yam looked over Dark’s shoulder, diving and grabbing the paper to look at it, ending up across the table. “What’s this?”

Milk, who at this point had slammed his head against the table, looked up and also took a glance at the paper, blinking in surprise. “I think I’ve seen that before. At the market! A lady was there selling one just like it. I think.”

“Okay, but WHY would Darko have something like this with him?”

Dark shugged. “How should I know? I have all kinds of stuff on me I didn’t know about. A surplus of gems and coins, this cacao bean, this candy thing with a weird gem on it, not to mention this thing.” He held up a strip of fabric, ends connecting with two triangles.

“That’s a belt,” Yam deadpanned, and he rested his face on the table a second time.

_I’m literally wearing the same thing. How did you not notice that?_

“Anyways.” Milk turned the conversation back to the paper. “I saw a sword like this at the market. Ah, but the market isn’t open on Sundays. Okay, we can wait until tomorrow then we can track that lady down and-“

Dark took the paper from Milk. “Or we could just follow the directions on the paper and, if the sword’s there, we can confirm that that’s the sword we’re looking for. If not, then we can go to the market and track down that lady, rather than waste our time waiting.”

“Oh. I guess we’ll do that then.” Dark smiled and started back up the stairs. “Great! I’ll go put on my armor.”

Milk did a double take. “Mwo? Wait now?”

“Well, why not? You guys just ate and I’m not hungry, so why not?”

Yam got off the table and grabbed his mace over the couch. “I’m not against it. We should pack up though, just in case. Uh, I’m gonna have to repack everything again…”

Milk sighed, giving in. “Alright then. I’ll go pack up my stuff (and put on my poncho), and then we’ll go.” Smiling as well, he quietly cheered, “Haja!”

-

“Hi!” Dark waltzed into Milk’s room, who was almost done packing.

“Oh, you’re done already?”

Dark laughed. “Ha ha! Literally, the only things I have with me is this sword and the clothes I’m wearing.”

“Uh, okay?” A little thrown off by Dark’s comment, Milk pointed to the dresser while grabbing his shield. “Could you throw me my hat please?”

Dark nodded and threw the hat at Milk. That hat then bluntly hit Milk on his temple. Dark paled. “Ah, my face!”

_Aigoo! _

Dark ran up to Milk, to which milk held up his free hand at Dark. “No no. I’m okay. Kenchanayo. It didn’t really hurt anyway.” Milk got back up, placing his hat back on his head, stuffing his hair in. He sighed and smiled sadly. “Kinda reminds me when you saved my life… Of course you don’t remember so it doesn’t really matter to you.”

“No! No no no no no!” Dark objected. He held his breath, as if stalling to ask. Ask already! You want to remember, don’t you? “Tell me what happened. All I know is that I did and that’s it. I’d like to know.”

“Alright then.” Milk sat down his bed. “I was just going to get a few things and decided to take a shortcut. I ended up running into some rock monster things. I wasn’t really familiar with the area and I backed myself into a corner. By then, you had come onto the scene and threw a rock at one of them, which ricocheted into my face.”

“I really hope I don’t get to that part. Again. For the third time.”

“Yeah. Anyways, I fell down, you said something about making it worse, and then you stabbed that rock thing monster leader in the eye. I was fine afterward, just some minor scratches, and here I am, not dead.” Milk finished.

Then, Yam stuck his head into the room. “Hey, are we having a softie moment, because Firestarter really wants to get out and Milk Angel keeps hitting me in the face. We should get on with this before we all have a full on cry session.”

“Aigoo, not again.” As Milk and Yam left the room, Dark stopped midway and slowly looked behind him, feeling a slight headache, finding the voice sitting smugly on the bed.

_‘You saved me! I owe you my life.’ ‘No worries. Now where is that sword?’ Sound familiar?_

The sounds that came out of them were not their own, at least the first one. Dark realized he started crying and his chest felt tight. Turning back to the door, he wiped his tears and continued on.

-

They stood before a giant castle in mild disrepair. The kingdom around them was much worse however, as it seemed to become a ghost of its former self. Vines and flora overtook many buildings, tearing many walls down. If you stared at the armor suits that were few and far between, you could almost hear and see them suddenly not be in their original position. Ladies and gentlecookies, this was the Shattered Kingdom.

The trio stood, wide eyed and chins up, as they not so subtly shifted their feet. The voice sat on Dark’s left shoulder, cross legged, looking at their gloves. The statues at the front of the castle glared down at the three, who were all now at each other on who would go into the very scary building.

“I’m not doing it alone!” Milk argued at Yam.

“Well, I’m not going in THERE!” Yam yelled back. “It’s fucking SCARY!”

Dark pointed up at one of the statues. “It doesn’t really help that the statues are judging us silently either.” He turned his attention to Yam and Milk arguing and sighed. “Why don’t we all just go in at the same time?”

The two shut up and agreed by nodding. Dark was at the forefront, holding out a hand at the door handles. His hand shaking just short of it before throwing caution to the wind and kicking doors open. They held their weapons out in a defensive stance at the lobby.

“PREPARED TO GET PURIFIED BIT- Wait what?” Milk retracted his mace, as did Yam and Dark.

The lobby/hallway was lined with suits of armor, bearing weapons and standing tall. The rug after the door was long, stretching to the back, though it was hard to see in such low light. The door shut behind them with a loud clank, startling Dark the most. Only Milk Angel, Milk’s mace, and the gem in Dark’s sword gleamed and gave off light, if only a little. It was quiet as the only sound that were made were the creaks of the floorboards and the weapons being dragged on the floor.

They walked on slowly; the trio each readjusted their weapons. Then a loud sharp screeches of metal in quick succession were sounded and the sun roofs had burst open, letting the sun shine through to the lobby. The suits of armor were now facing Dark, judging, as the voice was gone.

**The Hall of Armored Knights.** The vibrato had come to stand tall before him, neutral but cold. It turned around, walking forth to the end of the hallway. **It does not pass them odd that you are back. This is one of the places you better named. **

The three looked at each other and shrugged, following the vibrato passing through a large set of double doors, with portraits strewn across the walls. Many were of knights and without their helmets, in a profile. Yam swore he had recognized one but he had already forgotten about it. Most if not all the paintings were ripped or soiled in some way that gave Milk an urge to purify them all. He shook that urge away and followed the others down through the doors.

Down and down they went up until they were met with a bright yet dark purple room, lit with amethyst color torches. And spikes. A lot of spikes. The voice laughed and joined the vibrato, but grimaced in doing so.

** The Dungeon of Screams. **

“That is NOT a comforting name.” Yam quipped, pointing at the room.

_Hm, yes. You weren’t very good with naming things. _

Yam turned to Milk, who was twitchy and quite possibly annoyed. “Milk? Dude, you okay?”

“Fine, fine, FINE. Just a very impure area of the world just being impure and not FIXING ITSELF. No no I’m, I’m fine. Just FINE.” Milk stammered out, nervously grabbing at his mace.

Yam went to Dark and not really whispered, “Hey Darko, maybe we should get outta here before Milk goes mad with all these impure crumbs.”

“…FUDGESICLES!”

Dark worryingly nodded and the three went through the Dungeon of Screams. It wasn’t all that interesting of a trip so I’ll just give you the highlights. Milk almost gets hit in the face, Dark ducks down and doesn’t get hit in the face but, because he ducked, Yam gets hit in the face. In the midst of all the comedic pain, the voice and vibrato had a chat.

_Don’t you think we are being a bit… revealing?_ The voice swung on one of flails.

The vibrato took one look at the trio then back at the voice. It sighed. **We’ll talk to those two later. If only to satisfy you. **

The voice grinned. _Thank you~_

By the time it was over, the trio’s energy was at about a fourth of the way through and they trudged onwards up to a new room. It was much bluer than the last two, with a throne thrown in with the sun throwing shade to almost everywhere else but there. Mostly teal swords, big and small, filled the room. Milk perked up.

“This isn’t so bad. Why is this between the two le-“

_The Room of the Raining Blades!_

“Oh.”

Yam elbowed Milk. “It’s not just ME, right? I’m not just hearing things that sound EXACTLY like Dark?”

Milk breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh thank goodness, I thought I was going crazy. It’s not just you. I’ve been hearing it too. Do you know why?”

“Not really.“ Yam stole a glance back at the room. “But it’s KINDA suspicious, right? Like, he could be TALKING to himself or WE’RE going CRAZY together, for some reason.”

Dark double jumped over the gap after four blades destroyed the floor. Yam, being the shortest, was thrown onto the other side by Milk. Milk followed by double jumping. Dark wore a confused look on his face and blinked.

“Felt, what were you guys talking about?” He asked, sliding under the blades with the other two following suit.

Milk gulped. “Nothing much. Just… thinking. Also, not my name.”

Dark shrugged and continued on with the rest, coming to a very tall set of stairs. Dark, feeling the absolute dread that would come with overcoming these steps, groaned. “Stairs: why’d it have to be stairs?”

After a very long long long long long long long long long long long long long long trip up the stairs, out the castle they were and not far off from a purple battlefield. Yam sat down, facing the back of the castle, and found a beat up and ripped painting of Dark.

Overgrown with vines and now dying flowers, the painting was his profile in his long flowing hair and blinding white armor, grasping his sword. Milk and Dark joined Yam to rest after that long long lo-

The painting held an odd vibe to it. As if it could speak to some degree, the profile angle and shut eyes gave a sense of mystic and unfamiliarity. It was almost like it was alive. Then the painting turned his head and opened his red eyes wide, with a grin worn on his face.

_SURPRISE!_

Jolting at the sudden sentience, all three scrambled back to their feet and ran in the other direction. Dark stopped in his tracks once he had gotten to the Path of the Endless Warrior, though, causing Milk and Yam to slam into his back.

“Dear MT…” Milk gravely whispered, facing the cross on his mace away from the field. “Ai…”

The field was disastrous, painted in purple and strawberries and swords. Those swords jutted out like hands grabbing to the sky for salvation yet stuck to the earth for their fates. The bodies were strewn about in a horrific fashion. Most were missing limbs; one had his head chopped off, but Dark had forgotten about that one. Some were even still moving like if this… this TORTURE wasn’t enough to do them in.

The bodies spoke to him in a way that was blame-ridden. **You left us, you left us.** They say in accusatory manners. Pointing at him in severed limbs and sluggish bodies. Judging him in blame and anger. **You left us, you left us.**

“No…” Dark harshly whispered. “I don’t know you. I don’t know ANY of you!”

“Dark… Hey. We should-” Milk reached out to him, hesitating in doing so. “We should leave. I- I don’t think we should be here.”

No answer.

“Dark..?”

“I DON’T KNOW ANY OF YOU! STOP IT!” Dark yelled at the unmoving corpses. “WHAT DID I DO FOR YOU TO JUDGE ME SO!?”

Yam grabbed Dark’s shoulder pad, to which Dark responded by attempting to elbow Yam. Yam retaliated by taking Dark down and pinning him to the ground.

“DUDE!” Yam exclaimed, worried and afraid. “WHAT are you YELLING at?”

“Yam…” Milk said, taking in the landscape ahead.

“Yeah?” he answered, easing up on Dark; Milk Angel and Firestarter were thoroughly freaking out.

Milk pointed forth with his mace, unmoving from his spot. “Scary armor guy with lava.” Dark lay on his side to see onward that a familiar but unfamiliar figure was just past all the gore and swords.

Then he found himself running away from it all with his friends, slowing down so far from the Shattered kingdom that they were now in the Jelly Bug Forest where it was exceptionally hot.

Milk and Yam practically threw themselves on the ground after that marathon they had just run while Dark pulled out that creased and crinkled paper in his hands. He was still racked up from the Shattered Kingdom, and therefore was a bit more shaky, even in a place as pleasant as the Jelly Bug Forest.

‘When we’re done resting…’ The paper crackled under his handling. ‘We’ll find that sword.’

-

“Uhhhhhhnnn, I hate summer.” Yam groaned, walking sluggishly but not doing anything above the waist. Milk Angel repeatedly hit Yam in the face. “Stop, STOP! Would you stop that?”

Milk waved away Milk Angel from Yam and used his shield as shade, squinting. “I can see why you wouldn’t want a shirt after getting out of the oven. How are you not overheating? You’re doused in like 50 cans of black paint!” Milk turned his attention to Dark, who was much ahead of them.

_You got lost during this trip. How are you not getting lost!?_

Dark wasn’t all there at the moment, as he was focused on the paper’s directions. He didn’t answer, opting to mumble to himself and connecting the directions to the world. Dark shook his head. “Black in hot climates is only bad when you’re stationary, plus metal is really cold.”

“Are we there yet?” Yam rolled his shoulders forward.

“Almost Gram, I think. Besides, we’re heading towards a forest, so you two don’t have to suffer anymore.” Dark replied, walking forward over the tall grass and flowers. Yam gave an unenthusiastic cheer.

“Hey. It just kinda dawned on me.” Milk nudged Yam with his mace. “If you wanted to fight Dark so bad, why didn’t you do that earlier?”

“One, uhh... Jenjang. I dunno. But I do know that I wanted to do that because… because… Shit.” Yam drew a blank. “Why DO I want to fight him again?”

“Well, that’s easy. It’s because you wanted to… uh… wanted to… I forgot too.”

“How could we even FORGET the reason why I wanted to- GAH!“ Yam slammed into a tree, signifying that the three had reached the forest. Yam brushed off the injury and continued talking. “Why I wanted to fight him.”

“If you want to fight me, we’ll have to do that later.” Dark interrupted the conversation and smiled. “I found something!” Milk straightened up and lowered his shield. “Eh, jinjjayo?”

“Really?” Yam ran to catch up to Dark, as Dark ran ahead to a clearing in the forest. The leaves rustling under the movement and stopping at the sun’s light. “Uh, it’s a rock.”

Indeed, there was a rock in middle, just an average big rock, surrounded by overgrown weeds and plants, with vines crawling over the rock. Drawing closer revealed a slit in the rock, like if something was there before but was taken away. Almost like a- A pang of pain hit Dark in the head as the voice stood over the rock, giving a foreboding presence. Dark fell back, looking up in mild pain and confusion.

The voice and vibrato continuously flicked back and forth, until finally they split into two, disappearing in thin air. This gave way to a new figure adorned in armor that covered it as a glow the left eye bore glared down at Dark.

“Y-you guys see that too, right?” Dark asked, backing away closer to Yam and Milk.

“Y-ye…” Milk replied, defensively putting up his shield, but his face expressed fear in wide eyes and grit teeth.

Yam nervously groaned. “Ah, you gotta be KIDDING me. We just got here after like six hours. Why’s Mr. Scary Fuck Fuck Armor guy here!?”

_ ** Run. ** _

The figure stepped off the rock, never making a sound out of the plants but harsh clanks of metal were loud. The sun shined off the metal blindingly as the crew wisely decided to vacate the clearing and make a break for it.

Dashing out of the forest, after getting hit multiple times by branches, the three ran like their lives depended on it. That was saying a lot, since the last time they ran like that was when they escaped the oven. They stopped just short of the entrance of the Cookie Kingdom to take a short lived break.

“Okay. Okay,” Milk said hoarsely. “Maybe it stopped following us.” Cue the figure popping up from behind a rock, prompting the three to starting running again.

“IT DIDN’T STOP FOLLOWING US! IT DIDN’T STOP FOLLOWING US!” Milk screeched.

Cut to a calm dirt road into the kingdom and three very panicked cookies running over it, exasperated and in quite a rush. Loud yelling and screaming followed. Unfortunately, an inconveniently placed mess of jellies caused them to slip, splitting Dark and the pets from Milk and Yam.

Yam got back up on his feet and ended up on a soap box, in front of a crowd of cookies. The banner above him declared, ‘Motivational Speeches’ and, at that moment, Yam knew he was in fucked situation. His face paled in front of the crowd and the mic, so he did the logical thing to do and spoke.

“AaaaAAAAAHHHHH-“

“Hey, mian! Gotta go. Sorry!”

Milk rushed by and grabbed Yam like a wood board, getting as far as possible from the event. Yam shook off the shock and Milk set him down, both still maintaining their run.

“Oh THANK the baking gods you got me outta there.”

“Aw, it’s nothing. You would’ve done the-“ Milk was then cut off by the figure surprising the two when rounding the corner. “Okay! Other way then!”

Yam stole a glance behind him. The figure still running after them. “It’s STILL going after us!”

“Do you trust me!?” Milk hoisted Yam up under Yam’s arms.

“No DUH!”

“Great! I’ll throw you onto one of the trains while I’ll fight off the-“ Milk then slammed face first into a brick wall. Rebounding, the figure cornered them and Milk, in a desperate attempt to fight it, threw a milk bottle at the figure. This, unsurprisingly, proved ineffective, as the bottle just went through him.

“You plan worse than I socialize,” Yam deadpanned.

A sharp whistle sliced through the air, as three heads turned to the sound. Dark Choco was on the caboose of the train, holding up three train tickets, waving them in the air. Taking advantage of the distracted figure, Yam and Milk booked it to the train just as it was departing, kissing goodbye to Mr. Scary Fuck Fuck Armor guy.

The voice and vibrato stood on opposite sides of the figure. The voice stared at the leaving train and spoke to the vibrato without looking away.

_ Is he ready now? Now that’s he’s seen you, oh Sovereign of Darkness?_

The figure was quiet for the time being, before floating ahead and nodding.

Yes. 

The vibrato stepped forward as well, clenching his fists, and then continued going forward.

**Then what are we waiting for? **

The vibrato and the figure walked forth, leaving the voice behind. They stood there, frowning, confident that he will know the truth, yet adamant about the figure not being his future.

Dark Choco Cookie could never become the figure, right?

-

Milk looked out the window and found no sign of the figure or anycookie else that was chasing them. He sighed and slid back into a seat.

“Finally, after that, I need a rest. But, JEEZ, that guy gave a us a run for our money. HMPH…” Yam leaned harshly into the seat.

“I know that it’s been a bit on the stressful side for the past however many days or hours but, good god, that one was a bit new. I hope that at this point, providence will be for us.” Milk sat next to Yam, sitting up more than Yam.

Dark sat opposite to the two, hands on his sword across his lap, and wearing a worried expression on his face. “Ah, well, I do hope so as well, considering that we need a break. Though it does pass at me odd that it took me a week to find that sword before while now it only took six hours.”

“Yeah…” Yam’s eyes then widened and he shook his head, leaning his forearms on his thighs. “Wait, how would YOU get so lost that it took you FOREVER when it only took us like SIX HOURS?”

Milk stifled a snort, smiling innocently and fanning his face. “I do think that it’s a bit ridiculous that it so long for past you to find such an easy place.”

Dark, now not as intensely blushing but enough to know he was a little embarrassed, tried to find a rational reason as to why such an easy quest got him lost. Though, he had to agree with Milk and Yam on this one; it was ridiculous. He spoke out his attempts and, at that point, it was not he that was talking but the voice themself. They had taken up at recounting the tale as they revealed how badly Dark got lost and all three agreed that it was quite silly.

“_So he- I have gotta get myself together_, don’t I?” The voice then left Dark to let the rest unfold.

“Ah MAN! Do you realize how long it took to find YOU? It took A YEAR.” Yam laughed out.

Milk giggled (almost like a child). “Aw, Yam, you’re exaggerating.”

“NO.” Yam cut in, opening his arms wide. “Legit, second month in, we LITERALLY get lost for an ENTIRE MONTH going around in CIRCLES, up until we almost get crushed by these JELLYSAURS!”

Dark gasped, perking up. “Aniya!”

Milk nodded, leaning forward. “Mhm! If it weren’t for Dinosour, we would’ve been stuck there for AGES! Great, now you’ve got me doing it.”

“And after that, we still got LOST.” So they talked and they talked, about all the stupid things they did on quests. Though the voice did most of the talking on Dark’s part, it still gave the trio a laugh at how they aren’t cut out for adventuring and more for fighting. Nocookie was there to bother them, as it was the back of the train and not too many cookies traveled via public transport.

So the quiet chugs of the train lulled the three to sleep.

-

When Dark woke up, he didn’t expect a clone of himself standing right before him. Except, this version of him seemed sad, mournful even looking down at Dark. Dark gulped. Was this the voice? Or somecookie else?

**No and yes. **

Dark blinked. What? Who was this cookie? Why does he look exactly like him? Is this a ghost?

**They refer to me as the vibrato. I am all your memories after the voice up until now, so, no; I am not a ghost. **The vibrato walked closer to Dark, seeing eye to eye, or rather eye to scar. **I am here to give you all I can without causing a body breakdown. **

“So, as much as you can without making me throw up?” Dark replied, glancing past the vibrato to check if Yam and Milk were still asleep. (They were)

**Pretty much, yes.** The vibrato backed away, if only a little and held out one hand. **Let’s start off small.**

The vibrato held its index finger out and tapped Dark’s forehead, sending out a massive headache. He scrambled to his side, breathing hard, eyes widened.

Yet he remembers the smell of burnt hair falling in locks of chocolate. The burning sensation in his hands as he refused to let go. ‘Let go of what?’ he asks to himself. His hands fucking hurt. His entire being right now FUCKING HURTS. But he holds on for whatever reason and the pain is unbearable to feel ad he finds that his body is moving on its as he holds on. All the while, his minds says to just let go of the FUCKING SWORD ALREADY.

And he passes out to the voice and vibrato arguing.

-

He crushed his soft long curls in his hands. The air was clear and the wind blew oh so nicely. Grass is green, sky is blue, and Milk was enjoying himself. And for once, Milk could actually see past like 15 feet of him.

He smiled and then frowned. The sky was getting dark. That wasn’t there before, was it? Milk paid no mind to it and continued his merry existence in this dream of his. Oh yeah, by the way, this is just a dream. If this was visual, Milk would end up looking like a cleric and a priest mashed together and looking a lot better than the witch.

Anyways, he got up and took a stroll around. Then a an evil spirit popped out were he once was sitting, clawing it’s way towards him, and Milk wisely decided that he should leave immediately. He bolted to where the sun had shone on the world but the more he ran, the more the world was engulfed into darkness. He was looking an awful lot behind him, because at this point, more evil spirits were heading towards him.

Milk probably should’ve watched were he was going, as he slammed into Yam. Yam was fine, alright even. It’s just that he was in a simple wedding dress and a veil over his pony tail.

“Uh… I can explain.”

“Okay, if you don’t ask about the priest witch cleric thing, I won’t ask about the dress,” Milk offered, gesturing with his mace.

“Deal. So, off topic, but weren’t we somewhere ELSE!?” Yam threw his arms up at the hallway they were now in.

Milk surveyed the area. The walls were a dark red and there as one door each behind them. The hall seemed to just stop at a certain point and the ceiling was a bit higher than normal. A small attic door was placed in the corner to the right of Milk.

Milk nodded and Yam continued. “Second question, WHAT IS THAT!?”

Yam pointed to the other end of the hallway in which it did seem to go on forever. The figure donned in its scary armor flowed with the lava not so slowly moving towards the two. In fact, the lava was actually a lot closer than they realized as before they knew it, Milk was standing on Yam’s shoulders at the corner ceiling, trying to pry the attic door open. With one last uppercut to the door, he and Yam frantically climbed out of the hall and slammed the door back onto the frame.

The roof hung low on the attic with an open window not to far away. With a swift kick to it, the window gave way to an open field, full of flowers, such as tulips and dandelions, and blue skies. The grass was long and flowed together in layers, where the voice sat facing away the two. Yam and Milk meandered their way through the window and meadow, only to stand just before the voice in confusion and awe.

The voice chuckled in a way that was mischievous and sly but also childlike in a way._ The figure is usually like that, no?_ they said rhetorically. _Ah, that one just doesn’t get it. _

The voice stood up, after picking a number of flowers. They turned around, smiling sadly, and loosely holding a small bouquet in their hands. _Or maybe I just don’t get it. Either way, it doesn’t matter. Say, do you believe in fate? _

“Yes.” Milk replied with no hesitation, though he didn’t know why. “I believe there is a plan for everyone, even if they don’t know it.”

The voice shrugged and moved on to Yam. _You, the angry one, what do you think?_

Yam scoffed at the nickname but answered regardless. “I say we take matters in our own hands. None of that plan shi bal, y’know. So, like no.”

The voice threw the bouquet to Yam, who caught it, then they twirled around. They raised their shoulders and started walking away. _I’d say there’s a bit of middle ground; some things are just destined to happen but you can change at least some things._

The voice had walked so far away that Yam and Milk couldn’t see them, up until the voice reappeared behind them. Still talking, the voice stopped right where they were sitting before, turned back around, and dropped their arms.

_To the vibrato, it’s rich I think like that. It thinks a lot like you, oh pure one._ They point at Milk. The figure more so than the vibrato. _To each their own, but Dark Choco Cookie is facing a terrible fate if those two really are right._

The voice heaved a sigh and rested their right arm in the nook of their left. _I wonder if you two can change that._

And just like that, Milk and Yam were jolted awake.

-

When they came to, their faces had stuck to a table. Yam forcibly bolted upright, blinking wearily. He rubbed his face and his eyes focused on an unintelligible dark blob in front of him. He shook his head, as he adjusted to his surroundings.

“Dude,” Yam said dryly, “Where are we?”

“Oh, Ram!” Dark replied, surprised. He one last marshmallow jelly in his mouth. “You and Silk weren’t getting up when we got to our station, so I carried you over here! To this nice restaurant!”

“Again, not our names, but sure.” Yam squinted his eyes then looked to his left. A nice quaint café owned by the very cute and adorable Cocoa Cookie, that Yam always avoided at all costs because of all the heat the café radiated. Yam was way too disoriented to care about that (though, now Cocoa is selling colder beverages because of the changing season) so he turned to Milk.

Milk still had his face on the table and refused to get up. Yam, not having it, gently grabbed Milk’s long hair and yanked Milk into a sitting position. The sun set on the kingdom slowly but beautifully. They had just wasted an entire day finding a sword, getting chased by an evil armor person, and crashing on the train with a very fucked sleep schedule.

While Milk Angel coddled his face, Milk ruffled his hair back into his hat and calmly stated, yawning, “At least it’s not raining.”

The weather decided to be sassy that day and started raining.

“Nevermind.” Milk got up slowly and pulled his shield up. “Okay. Please get under the shield. We need to find someplace to stay.”

Yam nodded, grabbing his mace and joining Milk. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure getting on that train again will get us to the City of the Millennial Tree if we don’t pay attention. Dark, you in?”

Dark shrugged and took a sip while getting under the shield. “I don’t care as long as we get inside.”

And so they walked and walked and walked in the rain for a bit, thunder crackling every so often. Dark had this odd tightness to his chest again but it felt heavier this time. There’s a light tap to his temple and, lo and behold, the vibrato was sitting atop the shield. Dark could only see its legs and a part of its cape. The familiarity for the rain became so clear yet so jarring that the vibrato’s line made no sense to him.

**I do miss the sunlight… **

Milk blinked at Dark and then at Yam. He swore he had heard Dark say something but Milk brushed it off as the rain just making sounds. On the bright side, Milk’s clothes weren’t getting dirty. On the downside, it felt like forever until Yam made a sharp right turn to a house with all the lights off.

“Yam?” Milk tilted his head. “Where are you going?”

“Oh, I live here. I thought that was obvious.” Yam unlocked the door with ease and strolled right in.

He stuck his head out the door, expecting the two to follow suit and they did, with mild confusion at best. The house was more or less a big room with a bunch of dividers. The back half held the bedroom on top and the kitchen on the bottom. Both only had three walls. There wasn’t much décor, which wasn’t surprising considering this house belonged to a guy who had a tendency to break stuff by accident. The living room in the front half was simple; there was chair, a couch, and a coffee table over a simplistic rug. The kitchen wasn’t anything interesting. Neither was the bedroom, just being a dresser, a small window, and a bed.

Yam, without any hesitation, climbed up the stairs and into the bed. Milk frowned slightly.

“Could you at least take off your armor?” You could hear a few grunts in moderate trying, but then eventually giving up. Milk sighed and set down his stuff against the chair. He basically collapsed into the chair then felt very uncomfortable. The chair was cold. Conveniently, Yam didn’t want a blanket and threw it down to Milk. At this point, Milk has been so worn out after the past few days, he passed out instantly despite being asleep a half hour ago.

Dark stood on the rug quietly; his sharp metal armor cut into it. His sword’s handle made marks on his hand and he gulped. To his right, the vibrato had lain down on the couch looking at its fingers and a legged propped up on the other. Ahead of Dark, the voice shied behind the kitchen island as soon as he laid eyes on them. It felt meaningless to him at the moment: just standing there.

Like this story right now?

Shut up. It’s ironically important.

Jinjjayo? This has been going on for like 11,000 words; I thought this would be shorter. I still like this though!

We’re over halfway through. Let me finish!

Anyways, the meaninglessness he felt was quiet and boring. Dark tried all sorts of things to combat it. Like opening the fridge a bunch of times and then realizing all the food had rotted away. Or running up and down the stairs. Noticing the vibrato is missing. Staring at the reflection trying to make yourself remember your past and how you ended up like this. Writing on your friend’s face but then not doing so because he already has makeup on.

Eventually, it got to the point of where Dark just lain on the floor, splayed out and staring at the ceiling. The convenient clock above the front door only showed that about 5 minutes passed and Dark was losing it.

The voice, being the only one who cared enough, walked up to Dark and looked down. _I do say, that was an interesting 5 minutes. _

Dark groaned. “Don’t remind me.”

_ I can force another memory if you like, being so bored and all._ The voice replied, sitting on the floor crisscrossed. _Though, you may pass out again._

“Aniya,” he responded, still on the floor. “On second thought, what were you and the vibrato arguing about anyway, on the train?”

_Oh, I’m just mad at it for making you pass out. The memories it holds are much clearer than mine and therefore stronger_. Dark groaned again and hit the pommel of his sword against his forehead. _Are you still bored?_ the voice asked.

“Yes!” Dark answered.

The voice huffed. _Well, I can’t help you now. The vibrato is busy. Unless… _

Dark perked up. “Unless what?”

_We could visit an old friend. Y’know, ‘Dorado’. _

Just then, Milk walked past Dark and up the stairs.

The voice shrugged. _Hmph. Maybe later._

-

“Y’know, we really need to put variety in our dreams.”

** Oh shut it. What you dream is of no concern to us. **

Milk tilted his head. He and Yam were back at the field, yet is was so desolate and unruly that it was unrecognizable. The sky was full of thunder clouds and the world dimmed. Before them stood the vibrato, tall and mournful. The way it spoke was full of scorn, yet its eyes told it was full of regret. The wind blew briskly and wildly, flying its cape. The vibrato frowned and began again.

**I admire each of you surreptitiously, but both of you are stupid.**

“Wait what!?” The words fell out of Yam’s mouth as subconsciously stepped forward.

** The voice and I do not get along. They think you can change fate; you cannot. **

“Dude!” he yelled. “Dude, I know I’ve done some stupid things, like really stupid, but I don’t think that should really dictate how we change fate. I don’t even believe in fate!”

Milk gulped. “Uh, Yam.”

“Secondly,” Yam continued. “The dude said wonder, not think, you useless edgelord.”

“Um, Yam…” Milk nervously sweated.

“Thirdly!” Yam resounded, walking closer to the vibrato. “We will fucking change this horrible whatever for Dark if it’s the last thing we do!”

The vibrato and Yam were now very close, face to face. The vibrato grimaced, rolling its eyes. **Alright. Let’s see if the figure has anything to say about that. **

Then Milk and Yam hit the floor.

-

"Anjugeun!” Milk blinked as he forced himself up into a sitting position. Looking at the convenient clock above the front door, only 10 minutes passed!? Kicking off the blanket and neatly folding it onto the chair, he decided to go up to the bedroom.

“UYU! I don’t feel so good.” Milk sighed at the joke and sat next to Yam on the side of the bed. Yam was upside down, with his lower legs on the bed.

“Gah, Goguma, what are we going to do?” Milk asked aimlessly.

Yam brushed off the hits and replied, “Dunno. We could go watch a MOVIE or play three way CHESS or break a VASE-“

Milk cut him off. “I mean about Dark. Aigoo, Yam, I- I want to know what’s going on. Why Dark is all different now and why he doesn’t remember anything and why he looks like an edgelord. Maybe that last one the most.”

Yam gently nudged him. “Dude, we survived lava pits, snowstorms, jellyworms, FUCKING JELLYSAURS. Even that SHATTERED KINGDOM with all the freaky PAINTINGS and DEAD BODIES. Hell, we ran from a fucking ARMOR GUY WHO LOOKS EXACTLY LIKE PRINCEY HERE AND STILL SURVIVED. If we can handle all that and find our guy, we can find the answers to THIS guy and SURVIVE.”

Milk turned his head and started nodding.

“Yeah.”

“Yeah!”

“Yeah!”

“YEAH!”

“YE-“

“You guys do know I’m downstairs right?” Dark called from the first floor. “I can hear you two and I can confirm that I don’t know what happened either!”

Milk died a little inside after that.

-

Cut to the next day with Dinosour and Fire Spirit sitting at a café, looking at an odd scene. Yam was probably yelling about something in front of his house. Milk was on the roof, over the railing, waving about something frantically. Dark was running around in circles also on the roof.

Fire Spirit stared with his jaw slack, thoroughly confused. “What are they doing?”

Dinosour sat back in his seat, arms crossed and verily apathetic. “I can’t even tell a little bit what’s going on.”

Meanwhile at the house next door to Yam, White Choco was casually brushing her teeth at the window. She squinted as the sun blinded her from the first floor. Then she spotted the scene out the window.

“Gaud fhuckin’ dhammit.”White tore her toothbrush out and spit into a trash can. “Pink! The neighbors are being fucking weird again!”

“Which one? The one with cinnamon dust in his eye or the one that screams?”

“The one that screams!” White tossed her toothbrush onto the counter and looked back out the window. “And he’s got a friend! Nevermind, two frie-“

She stopped when a white sword hit the ground and another figure looked over the railing. She knew that sword, from so long ago, but before she could think any further, the sword was thrown back up and Pink had joined White.

“Oh shit, they are being weird again, especially with that sword. Uh, White, what are you doing?”

White had grabbed Pink with one arm and pointed next door with the other. “Pink… Pink. Those guys have him.”

Pink frowned. “Have who- wait. Oh. Oh. OH.” Pink got closer to White and whispered. “But how do you know?”

“There are literally only <strike>three</strike> two cookies that have had that sword. Avocado and Dark. Avocado lives on the other side of town so the only other person with that sword has to be Dark.”

How the fuck did you say a strikethrough?

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhut the fuck up.

Pink shook off White, dusting off her glove. “Okay, but how do you know those guys have him specifically?”

White gestured to the window, in which Yam was hit in the face with Milk’s mace as she talked. “This guy hasn’t been here in like a year and he just shows up with two guys, one of which happens to look exactly like Dark. Coincidence? I think not! So I say we interrogate them and find out why Dark hasn’t come back!”

As she talked, Milk was now on the front lawn passed out while Yam went back inside. Dark was waving his arms around while running away with the pets. White looked back and continued.

“And we can start with him!”

Pink's eyes widened as she attempted to stall White. “White, don’t do what I think you’re going to do.”

White got outside.

“Don’t.”

She picked up the unconscious Milk.

“Do not.”

And she brought him into the house and tied him to a chair.

“Fuck.”

After Milk woke and 5 minutes of interrogating (mostly Pink just freaking out and White yelling with Milk outright refusing to speak), the door was kicked down by Yam, who looked like he was about to be lit on fire.

White, being a bit of an airhead and wanting to taunt him, opened her mouth. “Hey, who’s the potato?”

Yam growled. “Are you talking to ME!?”

Milk piped in. “She called him a potato.”

“Are YOU taking to ME!?”

“Shouldn’t have said that.”

“ARE YOU TALKING TO ME!?”

Milk sighed. “Now they’re in for it.”

“They call me MR. POTATO.” Then Yam started a rage tornado, war crying. One fight later and Yam is tied to a chair next to Milk.

“Or not,” Milk deadpanned while Yam looked sheepishly.

It was then that Mint Choco was coming down the steps from a shower, his clothes sticking to him and him drying his hair. He looked up, stared at his older sisters and the two tied up cookies, gave a very disappointed look, and groaned. “I hate to ask this, I really do, but WHY?”

Pink pursed her lips and fiddled with her hands. “White tied up two guys connected to Dark.”

Mint glared straightfaced before inhaling sharply and going to the front of the house with his violin. There he sat cross-legged at one of two ponds at the front. The ponds had giant lily pads and not too many flowers. There Mint sat for an awkward amount of time processing the all the stupid things White has ever done.

That train of thought was cut short, however, as a dark cookie landed dramatically onto one of the lily pads. The cookie turned swiftly, raising their sword at the house confidently, with a look of determination on his face. Mint’s eyes wandered upward as his sisters joined the scene, weapons in tow, to find a familiar face.

“Let my friends go or face the consequences!” Dark boomed.

Earlier, Dark was running off, following the voice, who was walking so far ahead despite Dark’s best efforts to catch up. He ran all the way to the other side of town up the hills and past the roads, in which the market was starting to be set up. He got semi lost, and Milk Angel hitting his face was not helping, but he eventually caught up to be a few feet behind the voice.

At that point, the voice flicked away after smiling slyly and pointing to their left. Dark glanced to his right and found Avocado Cookie sitting on the floor. After a sit down and a brief chat about basic things (weather and the like), Avocado dropped a simple question.

“Why don’t ‘chu remember me?”

Dark was visibly taken aback, stammering. “Ah ah, well, there’s this whole voice that tells me me things that I I should kn-know and stuff with this whole sword or- ordeal happening and-“ He paused, trying to sort out his own thoughts. “I’m, I’m sorry. Were, were we friends?”

“Besties, I guess, though you weren’t quite the talker after losing your eye.” Dark gently tapped at his scar self-consciously and Avocado continued. “You came ‘ere at every opportunity before that. Smiling and talking to me, and sometimes stylin’ our hair. You had nice hair.”

Dark gulped and interlocked his hands over his sword. They were getting clammy. “Are we still friends?”

“No, not really. Since you’re all confused and at this point, we don’t know anything about each other. You’re almost like a- like a different cookie.” Dark felt his stomach drop. “But, it doesn’t hurt to start over.”

Dark blinked and his eye widened. “You think so?”

“Hey, friendships can be rekindled. Why not ours?”

Dark smiled, then stood up. “alright, from now on, we’ll both learn things about each other and prove that we’re best friends! Forever…”

Avocado chuckled and got up. “Alright, alright. Forever it is then.” Then a cold thing hit Dark in the face. “Milk Bottle, for the last time-“

He shut up, as it wasn’t Milk Angel that hit him. It was a black Helmet with small devil horns, red eyes, and a flame acting as the plume. “Dark Spirit Helmet?”

Avocado cheered. “Hey, it’s here. And you got a name right! Was wondering where this guy had been… Uh, Dark?”

Dark was caught in a trance, grasping his sword in his right and balling his left. He curtly responded, “Mian hamnida, I need to do something.”

Then he left a very confused blacksmith to follow a floating helmet. He followed with Milk and Firestarter but soon broke into a run, dragging his sword. There was this pit feeling in his chest that something was wrong. He ran and followed the helmet up the hills and to the cliff where he jumped with no hesitation. Over a house and onto a lily pad, he turned swiftly and pointed his sword at the house before him. He frowned, as he saw that Yam and Milk were tied up. Which brings up back to Dark threatening Mint, White, and Pink, who were all dumbfounded.

“Dark…” Pink stepped forward. “You’re ba-“

She was met with a cold blade pointing to her.

“En garde, mon frère!” White yelled, drawing out her fencing sword. “No one threatens us and get away with it.”

So Dark and White fought. I could tell you, but it was a pretty lackluster fight, so I’m not. Mint attempted to calm both down with music, which only motivated them more. Pink was freaking again while she failed to notice Milk and Yam had escaped their bonds.

Pink screeched. “How’d you get out?”

Yam replied, “Dude, we got MUSCLES. It was pretty easy to break out.”

“Also, it maybe would’ve worked better if you hadn’t used licorice as rope,” Milk added. Upon hearing their voices, Dark ceased fighting and turned to Yam and Milk.

“Uyu! Goguma! You’re safe!”

Yam perked up. “Again, not our- oh wait, those actually are our names.”

Dark hefted a laugh. “I’m just glad none of you are hurt.”

Milk shrugged. “Besides a broken table and licorice bonds, we’re okay.”

White did a double take. “Mwo? Mon frère, are you okay?” Dark didn’t respond as Mint got up to ask again.

“Dark, kenchanayo?”

Dark cleared his throat and looked over his should at the three remaining Chocos. He grasped his sword in his left hand and his eye wandered over the three.

“Sorry,” he said. “Who are you?”

-

_The truth is odd, don’t you think?_ The voice stood on the ceiling, smirking as their cape and hair flowed downward. _To think that people such as these… well… I suppose a memory wouldn’t hurt. _

“Please…” He whimpered, hanging his head low. “Not now…”

The voice looked over their shoulder and scoffed, hunkering down (or in this case, up) on the ceiling. _Ah, what can you do? Your life, it’s changing. Family has come into the picture now_. They stood back up and turned about, walking across from Dark to an argument of the remaining cookies. _Would you like to know the truth? _

“It’s been LIKE A DAY. How was I supposed know that YOU were NEXT DOOR?” Yam habitually yelled, flailing his arms. White growled.

“We’ve literally been living right next to you for basically our entire lives! How would you NOT notice that?”

“Okay, seriously. This is getting off topic. Can we PLEASE address the fact that these two nitwits have been harboring our brother for like a week?” Mint joined the conversation, annoyed at his sister and neighbor.

“Okay, FIRSTLY, I’m not a nitwit and neither is Milk! And SECONDLY, it’s only been like FOUR DAYS.” Yam defended, mostly failing.

Pink spoke up. “Okay, but you still had him for four days.”

Yam groaned in frustration and yelled, “MAY I PLEASE USE YOUR SINK?”

White replied back, “YES, YOU MAY.”

Yam proceeded to use the kitchen sink to douse his head in cold water while Milk took up the reigns in the argument.

“I do not want to seem like I’m justifying our actions but I do think that neither of us had prior knowledge of you four being siblings.” Milk was much better at handling arguments anyway, being much more calmer and empathetic.

Mint cleared his throat. “Only half true. While yes, you did not have prior knowledge of the family relationship, I did tell at the market that my sisters and I were specifically looking for Dark Choco. In that event, the two of you were stalled and you lied to get out of responding. This means that you had at least seen him at one point and began harboring him with you.”

“Sassafras… I’m a bad liar, aren’t I?”

Yam piped up from the sink. “YEAH, you are!”

Dark whispered harshly. “The truth, you say, is something you give out like poison lollipops. I’d like it, but I know it’ll sicken me afterwards.”

_Ah, but that doesn’t answer my question. Do you want to know or not? _

“He threw up after we found him!” Milk slammed his hands into the table. “What else were we supposed to do? Leave him?”

“He tried to fight him! Why should we trust you two when you could’ve been doing who knows what?” Pink raised her voice, but stayed a considerable amount away from the table.

Dark gulped, gripping his cape and hanging his head low. “Why not?” he replied.

Mint had taken a backseat on the argument now, as he wasn’t up for more. Actually, he wasn’t one to do so. While, yes, White and Dark are/were fighters, White was more loud and energetic in way that somewhat contrasted with Dark’s more childish and naïve nature. For Pink, she’d only argue about things she cared about. Fighting was more taxing on Mint than it was for the rest of his family.

He shifted his focus from the fight when a tap came to his shoulder and he turned about. Dark sheepishly spoke to him, covering his mouth only a sickly person would. “Excuse me, Flint? Mn… Where’s the uh… the… mn… restroom?”

Mint reluctantly shrugged off the wrong name and pointed up the stairs, quite worried at his brother’s state. “Uh… upstairs. First door on the left.”

“Ah, thank you.” Dark lightly bowed and headed upstairs, albeit shaking and quickly.

Mint blinked and, after a solid 20ish seconds, heard a crash. He glanced back at his sisters and the two nitwits, who were too caught up with each other to notice the crash. He facepalmed at the sheer stupidity of some cookies sometimes but that time isn’t now.

He scurried up the steps and to the bathroom. His hand hovered over the doorknob. A pit feeling in his stomach stopped him from rushing, yelling about what’s wrong. He felt like something was waiting for him, standing and biding their time. But his mind said to screw it, so he threw open the door.

But prepared he was not.

-

Dark, by all means, was quite confused when he woke up. He was in an unfamiliar bed in an unfamiliar room but this time it felt more homely. The window told him that it was nighttime already. Gosh, how long has he been out?

To his front was a closet decorated in posters and stickers, all misaligned. To his left was a vanity mirror, baring many a things, like a sharpening stone, brushes, a few belts, etc. To his right was the other side of the room. Judging by all the music sheets and the violin propped up against the nightstand, Dark guessed that was Mint’s side of the room and the one Dark was on was his.

Dark slowly got up, being careful to walk over the strewn about clothes on the floor that had been discarded for so long. He gently pulled back the chair and sat in front of the vanity mirror, not interested in talking. He wanted to just think for now.

_Ah, but then you won’t talk to me._ The voice appeared to be sitting on mirror’s right, smiling in a somber way. _You don’t even know how you got here._

By now, Dark had gotten used to the voice’s antics and agreed. “Yeah, tell me what happened.”

_Ah, where do I start?_ The voice rhetorically asked. _Ah well, after your brother opened the door, you passed out. Uyu and Goguma got kicked out but Pink said that you’d meet up tomorrow to reevaluate the situation. Your siblings carried you to bed because they were arguing for so long, it was now night. Then you woke up. _

“That’s it?”

The voice leaned against the wall. _That’s it. _

“That was anticlimactic.” Dark looked away. “Hey, um, could I ask you something?”

_Hm? What? _

Dark heaved a sigh and went on. “Am I really Dark Choco or am I somecookie who’s just in his body, posing as him? Because I think those memories you gave me… they were… They were made by somecookie else.”

_Ah well, now you’re just getting philosophical. You’re questioning what makes a cookie. Maybe their memories, their body? Because I honestly do not know the answer._ The voice shrugged and jumped off the vanity mirror. _Anyways, I’ll be going now. _

“Ah, wait, what?” Dark did a double take as the voice made their way to the window and stepped out. Dark hastily ran over to said window, find the voice standing on the house’s outer walls. “You can’t go. You’re me, aren’t you?”

The voice walked down but replied. _On the contrary, princey. I am but a part of you. What, you want me to stay?_

“Yes!” Then Dark quickly covered his mouth in hopes of not waking anycookie. “You are being quite contradictory with me, constantly being around me yet leaving now.”

_Things that aren’t real don’t have to be consistent._ The voice scoffed. They were on solid ground now but Dark was acting like a child. They did a 180 and continued to walk on. _Fine, follow me then. _

Dark blinked. Leave? Sure, he had gotten separated but never intentionally left without anycookie knowing.

He glanced to his side, spotting the gleam of his sword and picked it up. He looked downward from the second story, feeling a sense of unease as he did so. The downspout next to him went to the ground, so recklessly yet carefully, he got out of the window and plunged down to the ground from downspout. He dusted himself and swiveled his head around for the voice. Dark Spirit Helmet followed shortly after.

Up ahead on the road was where they were walking and Dark ran after them, out of the kingdom and into the forest. Though, no matter how much he ran, he could not seem to catch up.

-

Oh dear, out of all things Milk has done, this has got to be the one of the worse. The figure had left him in such a wreck that, when he woke up, he went to the bathroom and cut all of his long hair off. The prince could never be like the figure, right? That assurance made him feel worse for cutting it though.

The gooey albumen gushed out of his his eyes and Yam was behind him, fixing the mess that was Milk’s hasty haircut. Milk Angel hit Milk’s face in concern once or twice but he ignored it. It took about an hour or so until Yam fixed up but it was still a bit spiky.

Milk wiped the egg whites out of his face and smiled as Yam announced he was done. He chuckled, “Kansamida. You’re a really good friend, Yam.”

Yam sweated a litter and smiled sadly, resting his hands on the scissors. “YEAH, friends…”

That moment of slightly awkward silence was then interrupted by the Choco sibling bursting through Yam’s front door, yelling.

“YOU TWO!”

The two collectively screamed while Yam yelled back, “KNOCK ON THE DOOR! KNOCK NEXT TIME!”

White ignored whatever Yam said and went on. “DARK. CHOCO. IS. MISSING.”

Milk was silent for a moment and spoke in a high pitch. “His family…?”

White frowned vehemently. “As in he’s not here, you glass of moo juice. Where is he?”

“WHAT?” Yam joined in and spat. “Why would WE KNOW?”

“Oh dear, oh dear.” Mint hyperventilated. “It’s happening all over again! Oh, maybe we just got unlucky and that wasn’t really-“

“Mint!” Pink stated. “You’re getting paranoid again. Whatever the reason, I’m sure he’ll come back.”

Pink, unbeknownst to what the future held, was sorely mistaken.

“Okay, but you DO realize that Dark has SHIT MEMORY right?” Yam added.

Pink stood there for a good few seconds. “…Shit.”

Milk stood up tall and placed his hat on his head. “Well, since we all don’t know where he is, we might as well ask the neighbors.”

Cue a montage of the five asking around. Montages in word form is exposition so I’ll give you the highlights, again. White gets cinnamon dust in her eyes, the force of the door slamming made Milk fall back and almost break his spine, Pink accidentally love virus-es Dinosour towards Cotton Candy, and Yam scares off Sparkling just by being near him. The pets all internally laughed at this.

The five sat down at the lily pond in mild hurt but mostly despair. Nocookie knew about the whereabouts of Dark.

“Well this BITES.”

Pink hit back of Yam’s head. “We don’t need puns right now.”

Milk was nearest to the pond, staring blankly with his shield on his back and his mace resting in his hands. His eyes shifted left, spotting a very familiar figure. It strode high and apathetically, walking right past the pond. Ah, it was the vibrato wasn’t it?

In minor shock and hope, Milk jolted upward, moving his shield back to his arm. The vibrato was quite fat this point some how, so Milk pointed forth and shouted, “Yam, look!”

And look he did, as Milk and Yam watched the vibrato pass through a few cookies, who didn’t even acknowledge its existence. Yam spoke up once again, “Duuuuuuuude, we GOTTA follow it.”

Pink stood up. “Wait, what are you guys-“

But before she could continue, Milk and Yam were already dashing forward. Defeated, the Choco siblings followed, confused at best and worried at worse. They didn’t see anything that would warrant Milk and Yam to blindly follow them.

In fact, it seemed like they were following nothing.

-

“Uh, Miss Pompom, was it? I don’t know how a sword is going to fix all my problems. Also, why are we near the Dargon’s Valley, if you don’t mind me asking.”

Pomegranate internally screeched as this- this child was asking too many questions. Her master was going to lose it if she doesn’t get this quizzical child back. She just hopes that gets more affection after this. Pomegranate then talked. “You can do anything with the right tools, why should a sword be any different?”

“That is true… I think. Do you hear that?”

Pomegranate spun around. “Hear what?”

In the distance, faint screaming could be heard. Suddenly, five cookies on a shield came bustling down the mountain side, skidding between Dark and Pomegranate so quickly that they were almost not registered by either cookie. The five crashed into some nearby rocks, all in varying amounts of pain. Of course, these were Milk, Yam, Pink, White, and Mint respectively.

“Ah, Uyu? Goguma? Rink? Quite? Splint?” Dark was dumbfounded.

White pointed up from the mess of cookies. “Okay, firstly, we really need to teach you our names. And secondly…“ She sat up and pointed at Pomegranate. “Why in MT’s name are you with her?”

Pomegranate scoffed. “Well excuse you! You don’t have to be so rude.”

Mint piped up. “Don’t you know she’s a cookie too?”

Dark shook his head. “Nevermind that. Why did you all come down on a shield anyway?”

The five cookies looked in different directions, slightly embarrassed. “Uh…”

A few seconds earlier, Yam was yelling at the Choco siblings while Milk was sitting on his shield. Mint was trying to weasel his way out of getting on said shield but Yam wasn’t having it.

“Look, I know we all care about-“

“GET ON THE SHIELD!”

“…Welp, there’s nothing more convincing than screaming in cookies' faces.”

And with that argument out of the way, that brought us back to where we are now. The five blabbed out their excuses while Pomegranate threw the Strawberry Jam sword at Dark. Thankfully, the blade didn’t hit him but it was thrown hard enough to make him pass out.

Milk, by this point and by extension Yam, was thoroughly pissed off by Pomegranate. Yam, because he’s Yam, lunged at Pomegranate who, in retaliation, used her mirror. Lucky for him, Milk was right behind him and covered Yam from the light blast.

White joined the fight, battle crying with her fencing sword and swiftly dodging the blasts. Pink also joined, struggling to get a good aim on Pomegranate, as everycookie else was running around and blocking her.

By now, Ruby Pomegranate had come out of hiding and threw pomegranate seed jellies, particularly into Mint’s face, who was trying to wake Dark up. But when they hit his face, he (along with Mr. Fa-Sol-La-Si and Ms. Do-Re-mi) took to beat the everloving shi bal out of Ruby Pomegranate.

Once Pomegranate had aimed her mirror at White, Yam took the chance to lunge once again at Pomegranate. She, in turn, dodged the attack, and Yam had ran straight off the cliff. This cliff was right next to the Dragon’s Valley. Nothing good comes from that because the cliff was over a river of lava. Fortunately for Yam, he grabbed the edge of said cliff so he wouldn’t fall. If he had his mace, it would be easier to get up and out, but he had dropped it once he realized which direction he was heading for.

White parried the mirror jellies out of the way, and dashed to help Yam, who was scuffing at the ground. And misfortune seemed to place the two, as Yam had grabbed White’s leg and dragged them both down. White was not particularly strong so you can see where the problem is. She too, also tried to pry her way up, but was weighed down by Yam.

Mint, meanwhile, was still hitting Ruby Pomegranate with his prized violin. Hey, he wasn’t exactly a fighter, okay? He wasn’t paying that much attention to where he was going however, and ended near White. White ended also grabbing Mint’s leg, which dragged him down as well. If White was like your above average athlete, Mint was your lanky, weak band snob. By which I mean he doesn’t have any dough on them bones.

“Pink! Help!”

Pink had accidentally snuck up on Milk. That scared him, causing Milk to turn and hit Pink in the gut. That caused her misfire up and hit the pets near the three cookies, precariously dangling over the river of deadly hot lava. Mint cried.

“PINK, THAT’S NOT HELPING!”

Pink ran over to help while Milk followed, both tossing their weapons to Pomegranate’s face, thus incapacitating her. Pink also tried to help, but Mint's panicky nature in stressful situations caused him to…

Take a guess.

Caused him to grabbed her leg, yup. Milk for that matter, wasn’t grabbed by the legs but by the arms. Now, Milk was a strong guy. Gentle giant, yada yada. But supporting the weight of four cookies was hitting his limit. Actually, maybe even going past that. It was clear to him that he was not strong enough. So here he was, lying against the ground holding onto a cookie he barely knows for dear life, feeling the fabric of his clothes rip.

Dark, at the moment, was starting to wake up. Strange. He didn’t remember seeing three versions of him standing before him. Wait. He pushed himself up into a sitting position and stared up in a mix of awe and horror to what was before him.

He glanced downward, finding a familiar sword. Not like his white sword, but there was a sense of malicious intent that he didn’t know an object could wield. Then he remembers what the vibrato gave him and what that meant. The voice was to his left and the vibrato was this right. A figure stood in the middle.

Dark Choco Cookie, you have a choice to make. 


	2. Sovereign End

He grabbed the sword.

Dark Choco made a break for Pomegranate, dashing through the figure in a of rage. His armor felt heavy and the sword singed his hand. He ran the way he’d always ran, but with a swift flick of the wrist, the sword harshly impaled Pomegranate’s abdomen and through to her back.

There was a feeling that resonated in Dark when he stabbed her. A feeling so freeing and visceral when she yelped in pain and her eyes became devoid of life. It was so cathartic to see her on her side, strawberry jam spilling onto the cacao igneous, twitching and eventually stopping the struggle. It felt so familiar.

Then it hit him.

All the times and memories that he had thought he had forgotten forever came flooding back to him. They were unbeautiful memories that now seemed to plague his mind of horrid acts he done upon others contrasting with the verily pretty ones he had before, with family. It almost overwhelmed him to tears. It was painful.

He was brought to his knees, the jam soaking his gloves as both his eyes opened. The pain his left eye felt was unbearable to say the least but it would be a lie to say one eye was better than two.

Once the pain subsided from, well, everything, Dark took a chance to get back up. He readjusted his grip on his sword and looked to his left. His stomach dropped and his eyes widened.

Milk Cookie stood there at the edge of the cliff. Both of Milk’s arms were gone, leaving jam to stain his clothes a pinkish red and drip onto the floor. His hat was gone too, revealing about semi-decent yet messy haircut.

But there was nocookie else.

No Yam, no Mint, no Pink, no White. Nocookie.

“Evil spirits are an awful pain to deal with,” Milk said out of nowhere, devoid of emotion. “They want to infest your body and mind, leeching onto your negative emotions. They’re maggots, I tell you.”

The wind blew softly.

“I wanted to be just like you. You were my hero.”

Sticky, gooey albumen flowed out of Dark’s eyes.

Dark’s armor was shaking and clattering. The clouds rolled in and thunder roared. He didn’t know what to feel. He traced his free hand over his chest. Was he wearing this kind of armor before? Where did the gloves come from? Dark’s hand was still burning from the sword’s handle. His eyes remained wide and horror filled.

He reached out a hand.

“Milk, I-“

“No.”

He retracted his hand.

“Don’t say anything. I don’t want to hear it.”

Dark Spirit Helmet circled around Dark, as he stood there, speechless. Then Dark frowned in distain toward Milk, balling his fists.

He turned around sharply, grabbing Dark Spirit Helmet by the back and walked away. His footsteps were heavy and quick, via the anger in his body being unable to find a way out. Then he stopped and found the vibrato standing in front of him, smiling if only a little.

“What do you want?”

**Oh, nothing.** It replied. **Aren’t you regretting anything?**

He scoffed. “Of course not. Do I look like I do?”

The vibrato threw its arms back. **No. You came back for us, again. But rest assured, it seems that you…**

It seemed like it grabbed something behind its head, almost preparing for something.

**…have not…**

The vibrato revealed that the thing it held was a helmet. It held the thing gingerly in its hands.

**...done anything…**

It placed the helmet onto Dark’s head. Perfect fit.

_…wrong._

Dark blinked and the voice replaced the vibrato. The voice smiled in a way that only a cookie who knew everything would. They chuckled as they started break away into nothingness.

_Probably…_

The voice was burned away from the tips of his hair cape, turning an ugly black. They stared on with a sad smile and the last thing Dark saw of them were their left eye, which was then dusted away as well. There was nothing left but ugly ashes, drifting away, that were of a time from long, long ago.

Then Dark was alone again. Only a silent pet and evil sword in his possession, Dark waltzed away to who knows where. To do what? Nocookie knew, not even he.

For the Sovereign of Darkness was one who lived with no remorse.

As he really, truly did nothing wrong.

-

“AaaaAAAAAHHHHHhhhhhh…” Farenmoon cleared her throat. She was a bit distraught.

Storykeeper sighed. “Welp, that’s it.”

“Wait, that’s it?” Peppermint asked, sitting up confused.

Storykeeper cracked their neck and stretched. “That’s the end of the story.”

“What? No, it can’t be!” Peppermint stood up, slightly offended. “That’s a horrible ending! You gotta tell a better one.”

Farenmoon nodded in approval. Storykeeper tilted their head in confusion, as their pet Peppercrow on their head chirped loudly in agreement.

“Mn?” Storykeeper groaned, giving in. “Fine. I’ll tell you the other ending. Just sit back down.”

Peppermint sat down and made himself comfy with Farenmoon.

“Now where were we?”


	3. Appreciation End

He scoffed and ran over the sword, hearing an audible crack.

Dark took to helping Milk, and they both struggled to save the four cookies. Dark’s boots dug screeched from the cacao igneous and Milk’s heels were dug in. Before long, the two eventually got the cookies to safe ground. Milk’s arms hurt from them almost being forcefully torn off and I’m pretty sure all four of those cookies developed a fear of heights, but nah; they’ll be fine.

Pomegranate, on the other hand, was not fine. She was quite irritated, actually. All her hard work, rebuilding the sword, tracking down the cookie, and trying to convince him went down the drain as now the sword was broken, again! She tried to attack with her mirror but it broke because Milk and Pink threw their weapons at her. So she turned to her pet.

“Ruby Pomegranate, help me!”

Unluckily for her, Ruby Pomegranate was having the absolute shi bal be beaten out of it again via Mint. “This for attacking me! This is ruining my violin! And this is just for the rule of three!”

White stepped up to taunt. “Give it up lady! You got no weapons, your pet is getting a smack down, and it’s six against one!”

Pomegranate, seeing no other option, threw down what seemed to be a pomegranate bomb, temporarily blinding everycookie. She made her escape. Once everycookie could see again, Pink gasped.

“She’s gone!” Pink then went slack, pointing forth to Pomegranate running behind some rocks. “Oh, nevermind. There she is.”

He pet followed shortly after as Mint had stopped hitting it. Mint, joined the group, verily annoyed, and rested his trashed violin on his shoulder.

“Well... that was an experience,” he stated bluntly. “I think I’m going to stare at a wall for an hour and rethink all my life choices.”

Pink picked her gun back up. “Same. I’ve gotta go. I gotta make sure a friend doesn’t make a horrible decision.” She ran up ahead. “Meet you back at the house later though!”

“Sure thing!” White yelled, then she turned to the trio. “I’m gonna make sure Mint doesn’t go too crazy with his existentialism. You guys better catch up though.” Then she joined Mint.

“Welp, I’m never gonna look at the Dragon’s Valley the same ever again,” Yam said, shocked.

Milk agreed. “Yeah… I kinda don’t wanna hold anything now, since I almost broke my arms today.”

The two continued to talk while Dark confronted the Strawberry Jam sword. The gem had a large break from its top to its left and hilt was warped slightly from Dark running it over. Dark grabbed the cursed thing by the cross guard and walked over to the cliff, holding it as far from him as possible. There the voice stood on thin air, just far enough that Dark couldn’t reach them.

The voice tilted their fragmented head, almost broken the same way the gem was. _Are you going to go back for a second time?_

Dark was silent for a moment before he replied. “No, this thing has caused nothing but trouble. When I first got this wretched thing, my kingdom fell. And when I came back to it, it made my life so much more worse.”

The voice leaned forward. _Ah, but how would you know that if you’re an amnesiac?_

Dark was caught off guard by this and dropped the sword into the raging river of lava. He took a few steps back and fell down while the voice came forth, close to his face. They smiled.

_You do not require me anymore, do you?_

They spun around, cape flying in the air. The voice stopped the just short of the edge of the cliff. The wind blew softly, seemingly the only thing that affected the voice.

_Thank you._

“For what?” he asked.

_Not coming back to us. We really appreciate it._

The voice swiveled their head so their eyes could meet Dark’s. They waved lightly.

_Ah, farewell, my prince._

Then they hopped off, never to be seen again.

“Ah, so it wasn’t just us.” Milk’s voice startled Dark. Milk sadly smiled. “We weren’t the only ones seeing them. They were you, of course; why wouldn’t you see them?”

Yam sighed and brought his voice to such a low volume. “I think… that’s enough adventuring for now.” He gripped his mace. “After all the things we’ve been through and all the screaming and running we’ve done, I’ve forgotten why I wanted to fight you so much. I think that… maybe… we should take a break.”

“Couldn’t have said it any other way, Yam.”

Yam blushed. “Yeah, yeah, YEAH. I’m gonna make sure that FENCING BRAT isn’t gonna do something STUPID.”

“Hey, Yam, don’t call my sister a brat!” Dark shouted while getting up, annoyed. Milk and Yam were already walking away, with Yam holding their weapons.

Something hit Dark in deepest parts of his mind in a way that was freeing and calm. Remembering all the things he had done to get him here. All the times he was a prince and all the times he came back to try and be one again. All the times he smiled with family and all the times he mourned over the bodies. Every single thing his mind could bring to the forefront was brought and gooey egg whites dripped out of his eye in happiness.

“Dark, kenchanayo?” Milk came to a halt and chuckled. “You coming?”

Dark snapped out of his daze and wiped his eye. He blinked, then smiled wide.

“Milk, wait up!”

-

“There, better?”

Farenmoon and Peppermint nodded graciously, satisfied at the ending. Peppercrow, nestled in Storykeeper’s hair, chirped as well. Storykeeper was mildly annoyed.

Peppermint threw his arms wide. “That was WAY better than the last one.”

“Mhm, mhm! And this time, no one died!” Farenmoon added.

Storykeeper sighed. “Well then, now that both of you are satisfied with this ending, shall we move on to the next story?”

“Ye!” the children of legends shouted unanimously.

Storykeeper made a salty face then continued. “No yelling in the library.”

“Yes, teacher librarian miss sir, whatever…” They even apologized unanimously.

Storykeeper let out a laugh and cracked their knuckles. “Now, children, this story is of a cookie who lived long enough to become the villain…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the end of Amnesiac Memories!
> 
> This ended up being longer than I thought it would be and I had to cut some stuff out just because of how long it got. I think this would've been the longest in this series if I added all the other stuff.
> 
> As for a few questions people may have; the voice, vibrato, and figure kinda came out of nowhere. Like, I was thinking about Uminaoshi and how it would be scary for your past self to tell you did nothing wrong when you clearly did and that idea evolved into the three whatchamacallits. So they also became extensions of the Strawberry Jam sword.
> 
> The Sovereign End Milk will be dealt with later.
> 
> As for Pink Choco? She'll be in our next story...


End file.
